The integrated graphics part of the 11th generation Intel Core processors is called Intel Iris Xe. Intel promises to play games in Full HD at 30 frames per second on ultraportables equipped with Tiger Lake CPUs.
The Ryzen are flooding the market and logically, Intel had to intervene. In its conference presenting the 11th generation Intel Core processors, the manufacturer unveiled the Intel Iris Xe, the integrated graphics part of its new chips. The promise is that they can hold the 30 frames per second in 1080p resolution, on more or less recent games like Battlefield 1, Overwatch, Grand Theft Auto V, or Crusader Kings III. According to Intel, some Tiger Lake i7 models offer better performance than AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800U.
The manufacturer says around fifty PC models equipped with Intel Iris Xe will be released by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Nvidia has shown in video the performance of its GeForce RTX 3080 on Doom Eternal and in 4K.
Intel Iris Xe: 1080p at 30 FPS on an ultraportable
Who hasn’t dreamed of playing Overwatch games at more than 20 frames per second and a resolution of over 480p on their Dell XPS 13? This will soon be possible according to Intel, which has put a performance pack in the graphics section of future Tiger Lake processors. The manufacturer claims that the Iris Xe (i7-1185G7) performance is equipped with this Tiger Lake processor up to “twice” compared to the Ice Lake processor equipped with Intel Iris Plus (i7-1065G7).
Logically, Intel wanted to show the performance of certain games under an i7 in Tiger Lake, equipped with an Intel Iris Xe. In fact, in 1080p, the 30 frames per second are reached on 9 of the 14 games used during the tests. Some scores are even above 40 FPS, with slightly lower graphics settings. In Medium and 1080p, Rainbow Six: Siege arrives for example at 55 FPS (frames per second).
Fortnite, which will soon benefit from ray tracing and DLSS 2.0, reaches 50 FPS full stack, again in Medium (against less than 30 FPS on a Ryzen 7 4800U, according to Intel). Grand Theft Auto V even hits it at 70 FPS. In 1080p, CS: GO even reaches 110 FPS with graphics settings in High.
Intel adds that the chips will support high refresh rate displays (up to 360Hz), HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 Type-C. Some games like Gear Tactics will also support Variable Rate Shading (VRS) technology which dynamically manages the display of textures, depending on what is on the screen.
As for these 11th generation processors, they will take advantage of base frequencies ranging from 1.8 GHz to 3 GHz, with a Turbo Boost of 3.9 GHz to 4.8 GHz. TDPs will vary from 7W to 28W. While there will be i3s, i5s and i7s, the latter will also benefit from WiFi 6, Thunderbolt 4 and PCIe 4.0 interface, like the upcoming Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD.
In the meantime, ultraportable owners can play recent games through on-demand game services like Google Stadia. You can also use GeForce Now, from Nvidia. As for smartphones, Android gamers can take advantage of xCloud, Microsoft’s on-demand gaming service. The iOS version is currently discontinued.